Getting Things Done

11:05 pm EST May 31st, 2006 | Politics | 7 Comments

Interesting story here about the effectiveness versus charm style of leadership – currently embodied in the guise of folks like NY Mayor Bloomberg, Newark Mayor-Elect Cory Booker, and I would add DC Mayor Anthony Williams who’s leaving on top. I do wonder that if that mindset might trickle up, where people saw what the charisma of a Bush produces (Katrina) and if his succesor may turn out to be in the mold of someone who promises to get the job done and without the drama. Maybe that’s an opening for someone like Mark Warner (or Al Gore).

Dept. Of Stupid Ideas

9:05 pm EST May 31st, 2006 | Politics | 2 Comments

Yes, it makes sense to decrease funding for Homeland Security for the two cities most likely to be hit by a terrorist attack. Not.

The two cities attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, will receive far less antiterrorism money under plans unveiled today by the Department of Homeland Security, which has designated more money for many smaller cities throughout the country.

Washington and New York will receive 40 percent less in urban grant money compared to last year, with Washington dropping from $77 million to $46 million and New York falling from $207 million to $124 million, DHS officials said. The combined total means that the two areas bear almost the entire brunt of a $120 million cut in the overall budget for the program, the statistics show.

New York, Washington DC, hit by a terrorist attack? Why would you think that could happen?

HRC 2008?

5:05 pm EST May 31st, 2006 | Politics | 4 Comments

It’s impossible to watch this video and not think Sen. Clinton will be running for higher office (and front page NY Times stories to the contrary, the popular two-term president appears right up front). I think those who dismiss her out of hand – at least when it comes to getting the Dem nomination – aren’t thinking clearly enough.

They’re SECRET Wars

2:05 pm EST May 31st, 2006 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

So why is everyone talking about them.

Topic: Michigan

Sometimes, It Really Is Too Easy

11:05 am EST May 31st, 2006 | Politics | 13 Comments

In his May 30 “Best of the Web Today” column, Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal.com editor James Taranto criticized a May 29 Associated Press news analysis article by political writer Ron Fournier titled, “Democrats Eye November Landslide,” and issued a challenge to test his theory that the “mainstream media” are “generally biased in favor of liberals and Democrats, but this ends up helping conservatives and Republicans by breeding complacency on the Democratic side.” Taranto asked: “Can you find a similar article — that is, a news story, not an opinion column, preferably written months before the election — speculating about the possibility of a Republican landslide in 1994, when there actually was one? How about in 1980?”

Click here for, as they say, the rest of the story…

A Party of Nalas?

1:05 am EST May 31st, 2006 | Politics | 3 Comments

Brendan Nyhan notes that Democratic women are increasingly using the metaphor of a lioness protecting her cubs in order to project strength not commonly associated with women, especially Democratic ones. Nala, anyone?

The Media Strikes Again

1:05 am EST May 31st, 2006 | Politics | 15 Comments

AP caught altering their stories to make Harry Reid look bad.

The Tyranny of Socialized Medicine

5:05 pm EST May 30th, 2006 | Politics | 63 Comments

Good reason we stick to our system of healthcare for me, not for thee.

You can add Canadians to the list of foreigners who are healthier than Americans. Americans are 42 percent more likely than Canadians to have diabetes, 32 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, and 12 percent more likely to have arthritis, Harvard Medical School researchers found. That is according to a survey in which American and Canadian adults were asked over the telephone about their health.

The study comes less than a month after other researchers reported that middle-aged, white Americans are much sicker than their counterparts in England.

“We’re really falling behind other nations,” said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a co-author of the Canadian study.

Canada’s national health insurance program is at least part of the reason for the differences found in the study, Woolhandler said. Universal coverage makes it easier for more Canadians to get disease-preventing health services, she said.

Not So Fast, Mr. Rove

5:05 pm EST May 30th, 2006 | Politics | 4 Comments

The Republican strategy for the 2006 election sounds a lot like the poorly designed 2002 electoral strategy pursued by the Democrats.

Karl Rove, President George W. Bush’s top political adviser, laid out a plan to win the 2002 congressional elections by stressing national security. For 2006, Rove is framing a strategy for Republicans to sell the U.S. economy.

In a recent speech, Rove argued that Bush’s policies of tax cuts and trade agreements had pulled the nation out of recession, created millions of jobs, boosted productivity and increased disposable income. That record can help lead Republicans to victory in November, Rove said in the May 15 speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

Political experts say it may be a tough sell: Voters don’t feel optimistic, polls show, and growth rates are expected to slow as the housing market cools and gasoline prices remain near all-time highs.

“The administration needs to change the electorate’s overall psychology,” says Stuart Rothenberg, who publishes a nonpartisan Washington political report. “It would be a huge asset for the Republican Party if people could start to focus on the economy, appreciate it and see it as something that has worked, but I see no evidence that that’s going to happen.”

Another bad day for the Dow

Higher oil prices and sliding consumer confidence sent stocks plunging Tuesday as a weak sales report from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. raised concerns about discretionary spending. The Dow Jones industrial skidded almost 185 points.

Although the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell less than expected, investors were nervous about an eroding consumer picture after Wal-Mart blamed its modest sales on the impact of gasoline and utilities prices on its customers.

And here comes gas rage…

Tempers are rising along with gas prices. Gas stations across the country report that drivers are taking out their rage against big oil by yelling at clerks and cashiers and sometimes driving off without paying.

“Everyone is suffering at the same time,” said Sam Shirazie, a clerk at a Chevron station east of downtown Los Angeles. “If I could help to reduce that pain, I would.”

No detailed statistics are kept on incidents of gas rage.

A National Test

12:05 am EST May 30th, 2006 | Politics | 35 Comments

As USA Today concludes in this op-ed, it is incumbent upon us to have a full and exhaustive investigation into what happened into Haditha and a swift and severe punishment on any who may have committed crimes. Too often, as I believe happened with Abu Ghraib, we act as if these things can be papered over and exist solely as a PR blip that can quickly be counted upon to be forgotten. In fact, these troubles illustrate to our nation and the world: what sort of country is America? I expect one of the defenses bubbling up among the conservative movement is the well-worn trope that “we’re not as bad as Saddam”. If being not as bad as a muderous dictator is the model for American conduct, we are surely doomed.

We are better than that. Time to start acting like it.